National Disability Insurance Scheme

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:36): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister, representing the Minister for Disabilities, questions regarding the National Disability Insurance Scheme IT debacle.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: I am sure members would be aware by now that the National Disability Insurance Scheme has recently been—I can't think of a better word than besieged, or at least a more polite word than besieged by IT concerns relating to the myplace portal which has resulted in service providers not being able to make claims for services that they have provided and, therefore, potentially leaving people with disabilities without services as well.

Interestingly, I noted that yesterday, 3 August, the Minister for Disabilities, the Hon. Leesa Vlahos in the other place, released a media statement in which she discusses concerns about the bilateral agreement between the commonwealth and the state government and the number of children and young people who are still to transition on to the scheme. What is interesting about that statement, though, is that it does not specifically mention, to the best of my knowledge, the IT issues that the scheme is currently facing. It does mention that there are issues with payment of service providers but it does not specifically mention the fact that there are underlying IT issues resulting in that lack of payment. My questions are:

1. Why does the media release not specifically mention that there are IT problems, given that I think the minister has a responsibility to make sure that people are aware of this?

2. What is the government doing to make representation to the commonwealth to ensure that everything is being done to fix this issue?

3. Does the minister realise that the current myplace portal fiasco is preventing plans from being renewed or approved both here in South Australia and nationwide?

4. What representations has she made to the federal government, if any, in order to work together to fix this problem?

5. Is the minister aware that it was her department that originally got the numbers of the eligible children wrong under the bilateral agreement in the first place, hence the new bilateral agreement having to be signed?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:39): I thank the Hon. Ms Vincent for her question, and I am more than happy to refer the question to the responsible minister in the other place for a quick response.